Hi everyone ..Ive been sailing for almost 20 years now and never had this happen to me .
It had a few heavy waves .maybe 3 foot ..a tricky little place to get out The back to the wind ..cross off shore .
A small wave broke on me .i dived under this wave ..came up and I had 3 battens broken ..in my new. 2016 7.1 sprint .
I was pissed off ...is it just crap battens of just the way the wave hit .

i have had heaps of different sails ..Tushingham ,north ,ezzy ..only broken 1 batten in my life of sailing .

Is it the gear getting weaker or just luck .. Of the draw.

Here's the tubes ...

The fact that all three broke makes me think that the wave caught it just right(or wrong in this case).

I repaired a snapped batten recently by epoxying a smaller tube(maybe 200-250mm long), inside the broken tube, then sanding any dags on the outside smooth again. Worked a treat. You can get glass or carbon rods from kite shops or fibreglass supply shops. I used 5 minute epoxy.

Thank Ezric ..I reckon it was just unlucky ..
just because its a new sail doesn't mean it can't break.It just blown me out how easy they broke ..
compared to my others that have had a hiding ..
water is heavy .
I am going to try battens out out my old stash first ..have heaps of Old 2001 sails
transam and warps .mono film is stuffed .But battens intacked.

the good news is....


you didnt call them batteRns

Any tube battens and surf don't mix, never has and never will, that is why surf sails don't have tube battens in them.
Sorry but it's on you.
I've seen that all too often, the Sprint is not a surf sail, they make big surf sails for light wind days, that's what you should be using.

If you have made a habit of taking tube battens into the waves for years I'm very surprised this is the first time you've broken so many.
I had one such experience and that was enough. Rods are the way to go. They are heavier but they have very similar stiffness to pultruded glass tubes.

ED Mastbender beat me to it.

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Mastbender said..
Any tube battens and surf don't mix, never has and never will, that is why surf sails don't have tube battens in them.
Sorry but it's on you.
I've seen that all too often, the Sprint is not a surf sail, they make big surf sails for light wind days, that's what you should be using.

Yep thanks ..nah I wasn't using it for surf ,I was getting out through the surf slalom sailing .i just got caught by one .
tuff lesson .
but I'm to blame .I guess Im lucky I didn't blow the sail out .

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Reflex Films said..
the good news is....


you didnt call them batteRns

Yeah franks.

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Tardy said..
Hi everyone ..Ive been sailing for almost 20 years now and never had this happen to me .
It had a few heavy waves .maybe 3 foot ..a tricky little place to get out The back to the wind ..cross off shore .
A small wave broke on me .i dived under this wave ..came up and I had 3 battens broken ..in my new. 2016 7.1 sprint .
I was pissed off ...is it just crap battens of just the way the wave hit .

i have had heaps of different sails ..Tushingham ,north ,ezzy ..only broken 1 batten in my life of sailing .

Is it the gear getting weaker or just luck .. Of the draw.

Only 3! I broke 5 out of 7 a few weeks ago having a bit of bad luck launching in the shore break.

Battens are made as a mix and match of 2 standard tube diameters. Some of my stockpile of salvaged battens under the veranda must be close to 20 years old. Had enough to rebuild a set. I now have a 2 yo sail with ~20 yo battens. We'll see how it goes next time I get caught. But yes, take a deep breath before going out thru surf if your sail has tubular battens.

Do you blokes like the power in the bottom turn or something?

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Ian K said..

Tardy said..
Hi everyone ..Ive been sailing for almost 20 years now and never had this happen to me .
It had a few heavy waves .maybe 3 foot ..a tricky little place to get out The back to the wind ..cross off shore .
A small wave broke on me .i dived under this wave ..came up and I had 3 battens broken ..in my new. 2016 7.1 sprint .
I was pissed off ...is it just crap battens of just the way the wave hit .

i have had heaps of different sails ..Tushingham ,north ,ezzy ..only broken 1 batten in my life of sailing .

Is it the gear getting weaker or just luck .. Of the draw.

Only 3! I broke 5 out of 7 a few weeks ago having a bit of bad luck launching in the shore break.

Battens are made as a mix and match of 2 standard tube diameters. Some of my stockpile of salvaged battens under the veranda must be close to 20 years old. Had enough to rebuild a set. I now have a 2 yo sail with ~20 yo battens. We'll see how it goes next time I get caught. But yes, take a deep breath before going out thru surf if your sail has tubular battens.

It s good to know I'm not the only one breaking stuff..you beat me 5 out of 7 ain't bad ...I did get the battens out of a north transam .they have rectangular tubes instead of round ..maybe stronger
who knows...all good now ..ready for the next wave ..not..I just won't fall off ..in front of one with slalom gear....

my mate didn't even make it out the back ..had a few Good sets..break on his head ...he was a rock lobster .he gave up.I didn't but paid the price.
i will give credit to the sail batten pocket ..they are double layered ..so even when broken it wouldn't have gone through.



Of course Mark .., we love the bottom hand turn ..that's where the power is .

Dear Tardy,
New sail's tube battens are not much flexible. Thats why you broke them all. Old type of sail battens are stronger. If you have old type battens replace with them. Old battens are flat and cubic. Good luck.

Some speed sails are made with foam battens (foam core sandwich w/ thin FG on each side), super light, but very fragile, don't use those in the surf either.

okgood advise guys I did get some out of a old north prisma solid carbon ..glass no tubes .good up grade.